Last night, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a plan to make “prudent reductions in the General and Flag Officer Ranks”. I am inclined to think this is a good thing based on our (ahem) winning record of the last few wars. The official DOD title is “General and Flag Officer Reductions”. The Hegseth title is “Less Generals, More GIs Policy”.

I wouldn’t call this a “purge”. I would say removing excess or right-sizing. Purging generally means getting rid of something bad, unnecessary and unpleasant. Well, maybe we should have a purge. This isn’t it, although the Washington Examiner thinks it is. The paper posted the article: “Hegseth orders purge of senior commanders, cutting 20% of four-star generals and admirals”. The article opens with:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to cut 20% of four-star generals and admirals.

The high number of senior generals and admirals has been a source of criticism among both analysts and President Donald Trump, who has portrayed it as a symptom of a bloated and inefficient military. On Monday, Hegseth announced the promised cut of four-star generals and admirals, detailing the move in a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner.